On first glance it looks crazy that the Habs have sent rookie Maxime Lappierre back to Hamilton after he scored three goals and an assist in his first four NHL games, and looked great doing it.

However with Steve Begin coming back from injury, either Garth Murray or Aaron Downey would have had to go, except there is a holiday freeze on transactions. Meaning they stay temporarily with the team and the only guy who doesn’t have to clear waivers, Lappierre, goes down.

Worry not Habs fans, who drool at the chemistry Lappierre shows with Latendresse; as soon as the freeze is lifted, he will be swapped with Murray or Downey. Mark my words.

About 3 weeks ago was the anniversary of the Joe Thornton trade that sent him to the SJ Sharks in exchange for Wayne Primeau, Marco Sturm, and Brad Stuart. This, at the time was currently looked at as a HORRIBLE trade for the Boston Bruins. And this became an even stronger opinion after Thornton had a fantastic finish to the season, and walked away with the Art Ross, as well as the Hart Trophy, while the Boston Bruins had a year to forget. Well its now over a year later and most people’s opinion have not changed. ‘THE BRUINS GOT SCREWED!’ Well, this article is being used to give a detailed rebuttal on why, not only did they not ‘get screwed’, but it fact, the Bruins have WON THIS TRADE! (However so has SJ….)

It is time to clear things up when it comes to the Habs and what people think of them. Most of the hockey fans I know, pessimistic hab fans and Sens fans, maintain that the Habs will fight for a playoff spot. I just watched the Habs beat the top team in the east, 5-2 to come within 5 points of 1st overall in the east. Combine that with the fact that the Habs have top 2 special teams in both departments, clutch goaltending, exceptional coaching, you know what?

“Even before Shero took over from Craig Patrick, there was speculation that the Penguins would move the hometown kid, Ryan Malone (son of former NHLer and long-time Pittsburgh scout Greg Malone), if the right deal came along. Malone is an intriguing physical package — 6-4, 220 — but has yet to demonstrate a consistent work ethic. It looks as if they’re giving him one more chance to get back in the organization’s good books — the opportunity to play with Crosby.

TQS, The Toronto Globe (I think) and the Ottawa Sun have all reported that the Canadiens could be sending Radek Bonk, Janne Niininaa and maybe a draft pick to the Columbus Blue Jackets for centerman Sergei Federov. This I beleive, will not happen.

This…three days, I’m going to talk about why it is impossible to dislike Jarome Iginla, how the Coyotes and Blue Jackets may surge, why Canadian players are getting back into the scoring race and more.